Johann Ignaz von Felbiger and his meteorological observations in Bratislava in the period 1783–85

This study presents an overview of various activities of Johann Felbiger, a significant 18th-century scholar, theologian, school system reformer and natural scientist. His achievements in the development of meteorology in former Silesia (Prussia) and historical Hungary, i.e. in today's Poland and Slovakia are among the lesser-known facts about Felbiger. In 1783 he founded and in subsequent years (at least until 1785) led early instrumental meteorological observations in Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia). Based on these observations the exceptionally cold winter seasons 1783–84 (as a whole) and 1784–85 (in March) in Bratislava can be inferred. Previous scholarly research into his work assumed that his meteorological site was located at the Bratislava Castle. This study presents a new interpretation as to the exact location of his site and provides an overview of the previous findings with respect to the meteorological observations made on this site

Use of historical sources in a study of the 1895 floods on the Danube River and its tributaries

Hydrological data series that are measured on the Danube River are temporally limited. Instrumental flow data can be prolonged by documentary data from historical sources in archives. This paper deals with knowledge gained by studies of historical materials regarding the 1895 catastrophic floods on the Danube River and its tributaries as reflected in the contemporary local press and also in studies of other historical records (flood marks, chronicles, books and photos). Records from the newspapers (Wiener Zeitung, Preßburger Zeitung, The New York Times and Komáromi Lapok) and other analysed sources show the relatively large territorial impact of the floods in March and April 1895, which affected not only the Danube and its tributaries, but also some neighboring basins. Catastrophic consequences of the flood were especially reported from the lower parts of the Danube River (from its confluence with the Drava River up to the mouth of the Black Sea) and the tributaries of the Tisza and Sava rivers. In 1895, the second highest flood after the 2006 flood on the Lower Danube was observed since 1841

Changes in the daily range of the air temperature in the mountainous part of Slovakia within the possible context of global warming

Mean global and regional air temperatures have increased in the last several decades more than at any time during the history of instrumental measurement. Because of changes in the energy balance of the daily regime of the Earth's surface, it seems that the daily minimum temperature will increase more than the daily maximum one. The general theoretical analysis have indicated the daily range (TR) of air temperatures decrease, but they are also influenced by several other factors such as topography, wind, solar radiation, cloudiness, humidity, soil moisture, upwind and lee effects, etc. This paper contains a sample from an analysis of past conditions showing changes in TR at several Slovak stations from 1961–2010 and possible changes in TR up to the time frame of the year 2100 using climate change scenarios based on four climatic models adopted in Slovakia (global CGCM3.1 and ECHAM5, regional KNMI and MPI) and three emission scenarios (IPCC SRES A2, B1 and A1B). The trends and correlations of daily air temperature ranges with other climatic variables were analyzed